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Change Your Life: Step Two….

STEP TWO: choose happiness and positivity!!!

A quote that I often think about is this: “most people would rather certain be miserable than risk being happy”. I think there is so much truth to this statement. Why else are people spending their days engulfed in so much negativity. Why would you possibly find it advantageous to spend so much time complaining, surrounding yourself with negative people, and spending your precious time watching CNN News and other TV garbage that is sure to depress you. When you spend your days wrapped up in this negativity you have no option but to think that this world and the people in it are just not good. You become comfortable with this idea and the negativity and downward spiral this world is falling into.

Taxes. Weather. Politics. Gas Prices. Technology. Kids these days. Our health care system. Traffic. You name it, I’ve heard people complain about it. Since being on the road and being around cable again (sigh) I have come to realize it was the best decision we made giving it up at home. Here, I can’t help but hear the local news as it is a constant backdrop where we are staying. No wonder people think this world is such an awful place!! Why do we need to know about the father that threw his 5 year old daughter off the bridge? Or the mother that burned her newborn to death. Or the 3 year old left in the car to die of dehydration. Or the 25 dogs found dead in a hoarders home? WHY IS THIS NEWS WE NEED TO KNOW?!?!?! Why? Because I believe people love misery. And misery loves company.

Why not send your reporters out to the drum circles in Sarasota County that radiate so much love and positivity that it is palpable. Where the elderly man with a sign “Free Hugs” was embraced by MANY teenage kids, each with a smile so big that it made your heart sing. Kids these days…

How about the lady we met at Doggy Class who rescues dogs and through diet and natural remedies has “cured” one dogs blindness and with love and patience has solved her Hurricane Katrina dog’s anxiety and fear.

Or the lady we met yesterday who volunteers her time working on local gardens because she just loves gardening and finds such joy in making things look beautiful.

Or the couple we met at the Antique Car Show who travel the country attending shows all over the US in their beloved Vanagon. They talked to us with such enthusiasm about going to see this world and how much good there is out there.

Or the 85 year old man in our condo complex who after losing his true love has since found a companion in this same condo complex and tells me, “life is so wonderful, but so much better when you have someone to share it with”. They just came back from a cruise where they “ate and danced their way through it”

Why are we not reporting these things? I’ll tell you my guess. Because most people don’t want to hear about the good things. I think they feel challenged by it and it makes them uncomfortable. Should I be doing those things? Why am I not contributing to the world or embracing life like these people? At least when they hear about the negative stuff they can look at their life and say, “well, I’m not doing so bad. I’m actually doing better than most.”

Well, I can tell you one thing. The life that is right outside your door…the one outside of that television screen and newspaper article….THAT life…THAT reality….that’s better than anything you will ever see on the news. The “real housewives” aren’t ones you’ll find on BRAVO. If you get out there you’ll see their the ones juggling 3 kids in sports, a job, marathon training….all while smiling and dancing through life. Turn off that damn television and go out there and meet the real stars. Experience the real news stories. CHOOSE POSITIVITY. CHOOSE HAPPINESS.